All You Need Is a Good Cup of Tea?
by Lady Darcy-Riddle
Summary: What do you get when you add together a. an apparently overly academic, uptight, and stagnating Head Girl and b. a rule breaking, rebellious, popular Head Boy with a little help from c. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One

Contrary to popular belief, all you need is not love, but a good cup of tea

"Really, I need to study!" Lily protested. She shuffled franticly through the papers on her desk, like a dog digging. She had just had her charms notes, now where were they? She had put them down, and right afterwards she had picked up her Arithmacy book. They had to be somewhere.

"Lily, I don't think you've heard a thing I've said!" strangulated Bethany. If Lily wasn't so busy, she would have looked up to find that her friend's skin was as red in anger as Lily's was when she was embarrassed. Despite the fact her friend seemed on the verge of setting a full body bind on her, Lily was still engrossed in the amazing piles of paper on her desk. To the sane world, excluding Lily, her notes created a horizon on her desk rivaling that of the Alps. The charms notes were still in hiding.

"Because I'm trying to study," muttered Lily, eyes narrowing in on something faintly Charms like. Yes, here they were! With a sigh, Lily slipped them back in the pile. Those were from sixth year.

"For someone so _perfect_ and _organized_, I think you'd figure out that your notes are on the top of the left most pile," interrupted Cassandra as she breezed through Lily's head girl room on her way to Quidditch practice. Lo and behold, the notes where Lily's friend had said they were. She grabbed them, almost fearful they'd run away. It could happen.

"Oh, Bethany? Congratulations!" Cassandra left with a wide grin. "It's time to work on the second connection."

Lily was so confused that she was forced to abandon her studies for a moment. "What is she talking about?" she asked, observing her friend, who had a rather goofy smile on her face.

"Remus and I are going out!" Bethany screamed. Lily screamed too, and rushed over to hug her friend. Bethany had been in love with Remus ever since they had met on the train before their first year at Hogwarts.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily exclaimed.

"I was trying to! But you were being a total prat and trying to study for a test you have next week!" Bethany was failing miserably at being angry, she was just too happy.

Grinning merrily herself, Lily did a little dance while reading her charms notes. Bethany reached over and snatched them out of her hands with her elegantly painted fingers. "Lily, stop it. You're going to get the full story whether you like it or not."

In the face of the inevitable, Lily was forced to admit she was much more interested in every last detail of the event than in the exact wand movements and the history of the charms in her notes. With Lily's attention secured, Bethany collapsed into the insanely soft leather armchair that occupied the corner. She draped her legs over the arm, and Lily saw the very bottom of high heeled shoes peek out from of Bethany's robes. Although she supported every attempt to secure Remus, she would never sacrifice the well-being of her feet to get a guy. But that really wasn't the issue, exactly how Remus made his highly acceptable proposal was.

"Well, I felt like today was the day and I'd die if I didn't finally admit how I felt about him…"began Lily's friend in a dreamy state. Lily smiled from the window seat. She and Cassandra had heard their love-struck friend bemoaning her coming death without Remus since the three of them had finished the treacle tart at the opening feast first year.

"So, I decided, if it was the day of judgment, I better be dressed correctly…"

"And you would need to be able to kiss him with some degree of ease if the foreseen event did occur, hence those impractical shoes," Lily wryly added.

"Lily! I was unsure! I hoped, but who could say if he felt the same way? The shoes were not for that purpose!" emphatically explained Bethany, with a great deal of amazement, and so she thought, the truest case of righteous anger in history. "And they are not impractical!" she added.

"Obviously not, as they seemed to have fulfilled your purpose in buying them and must have been very useful at the time of judgment," Lily agreed. She remembered quite well that the shoes had been bought for the intent and purpose of getting Remus when Cassandra and Bethany had stayed with her for the summer. She had been forced by her mother and sister to introduce her two friends to muggle shopping, something she didn't much enjoy herself. From that day on Bethany was lost.

"Lily! That is not true. I don't understand you!" Bethany whined, impatient to continue her story. Lily, although awfully tempted, let the matter die. For once she would let an opportunity go by for teasing Bethany about her height. Lily was a scant three inches taller, but that still didn't make her friend anything but short. It was especially obvious when Lily compared her to Remus, who although not amazingly tall, had to be close to six feet.

"Anyway," continued the story teller, glaring at her audience, "I saw him at lunch and told him I desperately needed to talk to him and asked him to meet me in the library by the shelf where Hogwarts: A History is after the last class."

"So that's why you didn't hear a thing Professor Arachnia said in Care of Magical Creatures!" exclaimed Lily. Despite her despising romance in anyway concerning herself, it was fascinating.

"I mean what if he didn't come? I'd have fed myself to the hippogriff! But even though I got there early, he was there even earlier! He wouldn't let me say a thing, just 'Before you say anything, there is something I have to tell you' and then he told me he'd had a huge crush on me ever since first year when I punched James on the train after he insulted you, and now that he knew me a little better he was in love with me! I couldn't say anything for a few moments, but then I told him I'd been absolutely in love with him since I met him and after that he asked me out and then oohhhhhhhhhh…" Bethany trailed off, sinking even farther into the cushions in bliss.

Her curiosity and hopes of seven years satisfied, Lily attacked her desk in search of some tea. She had made a cup for studying, before the news, and it seemed to have taken shelter somewhere she couldn't find it.

After some dreamy gazing out the window and sighing, Bethany broke out of her reverie. "You know, Lily, all you need is love."

Lilly, however, was impervious to such romantic ideas. "My mother always said 'All it needs is a good cup of tea.'"

"That might be, but may I remind you, your mother is married? And was she talking about dating a cup of tea? No, I think not."

"Well, that's all I want, if I can find the blasted thing!"

"Honestly Lily, you'll be married to James with three kids before you find your tea. It's on the _window sill_."

Lily turned very slowly, to face the window. She spent a long time contemplating the position of her tea. It, in fact, was seated on the window sill, nicely silhouetted by the setting sun across the forest. Like a near-death experience, Cassandra's voice came eerily back to her. "_Bethany? Congratulations! It's time to work on the second connection._"

In a second, Lily went from in shock to violently angry. She hated James Potter possibly more than anything in the world, excepting her friends trying to set her up with him. Married. To… to… _him_! And _children_! It was too disgusting for words!

Or perhaps not. "Bethany! That is horrendous! How could you say that?" Lily had totally and completely lost control. She was normally was a bit shy and wasn't predisposed to yelling, but complete and utter hatred of James Potter effaced that with ease. "Whatever gave you that idea? Ewwww!" Lily cried. She couldn't decide if she was more disgusted by the thought or angry at they'd even attempt it.

A little shaken, Bethany still retained her good humor. "Lily, one intermarriage increases the likelihood of another."

This was going too far. "How can you use that against me?" Lilly screeched. Obviously, Bethany was alluding to her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. At least the character who thought so was wrong on every point in her schemes, but that made no difference to Lily. This was a black mark on her favorite novel, but more of a black mark on her friends for profaning Pride and Prejudice's holy name.

"Well, it was Cassandra's idea," Bethany defended herself. Lily's anger was on a low simmer, allowing her mind to work. Quickly, she determined she was never lending either of her friends her favorite book again, especially not Cassandra who had read it almost as many times as she had. They had used for evil what was only to be used for good. _They _were evil.

"I have always hated James Potter and I always will! Impossible!"

Lily felt like killing Bethany, because apparently she just did not understand how horrid this was. "Honestly Lily, it would be so cute to have Head Girl and Head Boy dating." Lily made retching noises, and not to be funny. "Anyway," continued Bethany trying to reason, "that's what Elizabeth Bennet said about Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice."

This was heresy! "I AM NOT GOING TO FALL IN LOVE WITH NOR MARRY JAMES POTTER. I WOULD RATHER DIE." Death seemed like a suitable occupation. Perhaps some of her so called friends would enjoy it. That was exactly what Cassandra needed, Lily realized. In an instant she had whirled away from Bethany and was flying down the hall to the Quidditch pitch.

Author's Note: Thank you to the reviewers who caught the misspelled "Lilly". I thought I had changed that. Feel free to throw tomatoes. I am now aware that the Pride and Prejudice reference to intermarriages was in fact Elizabeth Bennet's and not Caroline Bingley's, but I'm not going to change it. Yet.


	2. A Rather Public Hatred

Chapter Two

A rather public hatred

Lily stormed through Hogwarts without a thought to who she passed by. Her mind was entirely on reprimanding Cassandra, that there was no room to notice that she had pushed by her Astronomy professor without a word. Bethany was tagging behind, trying to dam up the flood of anger she had released, but Lily didn't hear a word. Not even stopping to acknowledge the headmaster, she burst through the door out onto the grass.

James preformed an extraordinary maneuver on broom to avoid an errant bludger. "Keep that thing in line, Winters!" he bellowed to the repentant Beater. The Quidditch captain ducked out of the drill, zooming high above the field to check on his team's progress. Watching them perform perfectly- Cassandra Edwards the Chaser was flying so well she was almost ahead of the drill- he caught sight of two figures hurrying towards the field from across the lawn.

If he was not mistaken, he thought with a deal of despair and sarcasm, it was the lovely Lily Evans. There was the distinct possibility she was coming here to cancel Quidditch forever. You never knew with that girl. Yes, it had to be her. The setting sun was glinting off the first figure's red hair. James doubted anyone else would look like a house elf with its head on fire.

"Cassandra!" Lily yelped. James was impressed with her lung power. Very rarely had he seen Evans angry, and even few times had he hear her yell. She seemed up to the job though. He could hear her loud and clear, even as high up as he was. Cassandra sent him an uneasy look, and he nodded in return. As she swooped out of formation towards the ground, he took her place.

Lily's mouth was off and running even before Cassandra touched down. "What is this? Have you completely lost your mind? No, I know you have. How dare you even suggest such a thing!"

Cassandra just looked at Lily, paying her even less attention than Bethany had. Lily thought she would spontaneously combust. "Lily, it is all for the best," Cassandra soothed.

"No it is not! Do you know how much mental harm you have caused me?"

"Lily! Honestly, you just need to relax sometimes. It would be good for you." Cassandra seemed passionate about the subject herself, but she could not out do Lily. At this point, Lily resorted to jumping up and down to relieve her frustration. It was rather comic, if one was only a casual observer.

"I don't need to relax, especially not in that way. AND JAMES POTTER WOULD NOT BE GOOD FOR ME!" she screamed, her voice bobbling due to her frantic bouncing.

"Lily, I know you hate him, but look past that. He can't be all that bad. Tell me one thing that's wrong with James Potter." Cassandra persisted in being the "voice of reason."

Although James had been busy zooming about the field and watching the team, he had heard his name mentioned a few times. One thing he enjoyed almost more than Quidditch was driving Lily Evans crazy. He flew over the edge of the field where the little gathering was and arrived just in time to hear his virtues canvassed by Lily.

Lily had reached the cold anger point. She wasn't jumping up and down, but instead was standing as still as a tree of the Forbidden Forest. Obviously her friends could not see what a mistake they had made. James and she would be impossible. It wasn't that Lily wasn't interested in boys, she was. Someday she hoped to get married and have a family. Not with Potter though. She was interested in a lot of other things that prevented her from wasting her time with them. She was intent on doing well seventh year so she could get a good job after graduation. And she was head girl, which required dedication and meant she was a role model for the entire school. That was a job she took seriously. Unlike Potter.

"What is wrong with James Potter? I will tell you. Potter does not think about anything but Quidditch. In fact I cannot say he does think about anything. The things you would say he thinks about really need no brain work at all. Quidditch is a sport, not a mind game. He doesn't need to think about girls since they have the disgusting habit of just lying down at his feet and begging him walk all over them, which he does being the manipulative, self-centered bastard he is. Pranks seems a natural instinct to him. He never seems to remember that they usually involve breaking at least one school rule, which it his responsibility to enforce as head boy. I cannot fathom why the headmaster chose him. Honestly, he is no person to be a role model to Hogwarts. He doesn't take anything in this school seriously. He follows the rules as much as he follows his classes. What does he think he's going to do out in the real world? Sit on his parents' fortune? He disgusts me!"

Lily paused, panting as she tried to fill lungs emptied by the tirade. Her friends were staring at her like they had thought she worshipped James along with everyone else. She would have to grill them later, and if they admitted to believing that she would excommunicate them from her circle of friends. That would put a serious dent in her circle of friends.

Lily's angry musings were interrupted by a voice. In fact, it was the voice. The voice that made Lily want to scream, that spent little currents of irritation running up her spine.

It was James Potter.

"Why, I didn't know you had such a high opinion of me Evans," Potter remarked as if she had made a comment on the weather.

Couldn't anything put a dent that monster ego? Lily might have been embarrassed, had his ironic comment not given her time to recover all her anger. The head girl spun around and glared, secretly it would cause him to turn green or all his hair to fall out. She couldn't speak, but manage to sputter like a pot boiling out of control.

"Sitting on gold sounds fun, Evans, but I'd rather play Quidditch. Who knows, I might have to be careful not to slide off a pile of gallons, and that would require me to think! You know I can't do that!" Potter continued, putting on that repentant act everyone else found so convincing. Lily despised it.

"Potter, you are entirely infuriating!" she shrieked.

"Oh, so that's why you won't go out with me?" James nodded pensively. "But wait, there are plenty of girls who don't find me infuriating, so sorry; I won't have to tax you with the terrible stigma of being my girlfriend."

Lily hissed, and had to control her hands. She was caught up with a random desire to just claw him, and she didn't even like cats, she was allergic to them. Not as much as I am to Potter, Lily thought, very deeply in a snit. She couldn't think of anything to say, and decided a dramatic exit was best. Hands clenched at her sides, she marched stiffly off towards the school.

Only, James' voice followed her. "Oh, Evans? I might as well let you sleep at night; under no circumstances would I ever even think about going out with you." His irritating voice was followed by his even more irritating laugh. Lily gave up on walking; she sprinted up to the doors, intent on finding a solitary spot to analyze exactly how much she hated James Potter.


	3. A New Friend

Author's Note: Here ya go, Cornishxxxpixie! Wow, what's wrong with me? Fixed the spelling in this chapter.

Chapter Three: A New Friend

Lily burst into her dorm room, completely disregarding the presence of the fourth seventh year and dorm-mate. She collapsed on her bed, a muffled scream escaping on the impact. Lily sounded much like her pet. Her screech owl was skittering on her dresser, trying to balance the extra weight of the package that was tied to its leg. Tilney hooted softly, trying to communicate his predicament to his oblivious owner. He ruffled his chocolate plumage in discomfort, looking much like a fluffed pillow. Coincidentally, his owner was at that moment acting upon such an object, but with much more a violent intent.

"Lily?" ventured the other occupant of the room. Eleanor popped her noise out of her book, making her concerned look more visible. Although like Lily, Eleanor was bookish and quiet, while also possessing a reasonable degree of intelligence, they had never been close. Eleanor was simply a bit too easy to pass by, and Lily was ignoring her now.

"I hate him!" Lily roared as she stopped her torture of the poor pillow which looked like it would need to call in a replacement if her pulverization of it went on any longer.

Eleanor was extremely shocked. She associated Lily with calm and books. Perhaps Lily could be raised to passion due to her overzealous concern about rules, but assaulting pillows and screaming were not her style. Eleanor seriously considered returning to her book and pretending that an enraged Head Girl had not broken her solitude. Unluckily for her, Eleanor was endowed with such possibly hazardous virtues as concern for friends and a talent for pacification.

"Um, who do you hate?" Eleanor tried, hoping this would vent some of Lily's alarming anger.

"Potter!" Lilly snarled. She sat up and began to bounce on her bed in an extremely angry fashion.

Eleanor found that such a statement was not conducive to calming Lily down, despite its intent. Her fear of conflict and desire for self preservation over-riding the demands of friendship, Eleanor began to make a retreat back to her book.

However, she found that today she was to be another Pandora opening the box of James Potter and releasing Lily on the world and herself. Lily pounced on the subject with a decided lack of pleasure, as she had taken in the situation presented in disciplining James when as a prefect she had walked in on him and a random girl kissing. Except that situation did not have the hint of a starved polar bear ripping into a seal.

"Please tell me you can understand how I feel," Lily sneered in a way that would make any condescending evil ruler proud.

All Eleanor could do was shake her head no in the manner of someone who knows they are going to be rewarded in pain for their honesty. Lily most promptly took the opportunity to play executioner.

"Do not tell me you like that bastard." Lily's voice had acquired a hard edge that no one, especially Eleanor, had heard before. The poor girl was frightened. She didn't know the crazed creature occupying the bed across from her. The normal Lily had once happily engaged Eleanor in discussion on how they both thought, in Lily's words; it was so common to indulge the disease of the vernacular. That is to say, Lily Evans never swore.

Eleanor was too stunned to answer, but Lily didn't need her input. "I cannot understand how anyone can," she continued, eyes narrowed to slits.

Her audience made a sort of squeak, blue eyes bulging as if they would fall out and roll along the floor. This brought Lily's attention back to the fact that she was participating in a one-sided conversation. "Well?" she viciously queried.

"He's not that bad," attempted Eleanor at warp nine, "He is sort of gallant and oddly courteous if he likes you, not to consider the fact that he's almost universally considered the most handsome boy in the school." Lily was looking at Eleanor like she was the despised Potter himself, so under her concern for her friend's blood pressure Eleanor was proud of making such a statement.

Lily made a draw out noise, half a groan and half a scream. "So you're part of the Potter Rules the World delegation too?"

"No. I just don't see what's really wrong with him."

"Then you are blind." With that Lily most rudely turned her attention away from her friend and caught sight of her neglected owl, who had been hopping around, deeply uncomfortable, during the conversation. Even the sight of her beloved pet could not rain on her anger parade. Huffily, she relieved Tilney of his burden. He hooted pathetically, begging for affection, but she let him fly off to the owlery without even one pat for reward.

Lily inspected the delivery. It was a package, which was unusual. No wonder Tilney had missed the breakfast delivery time. It was plainly from her parents. No one but her father would wrap something in Christmas wrapping paper with cartoon reindeer when it was only the end of September.

Lily was intrigued now. This squarish parcel was unusual. Her parents usually did not send her many packages, and this was a bit early to receive anything from them. It was not possible that she had forgotten anything; no one else could have agonized over every article in their trunk more than Lily had. She ripped off the attached card. It was the same yellowed parchment that had run over her desk. Her parents had enthusiastically taken up some wizard customs when it first came out that Lily was a witch. It was rather humorous to see that plain black fountain pen ink laid down against the reedy wizarding paper that was accustomed to the touch of a quill.

Dear Lily, said her father's lazy scrawl.

Hope school is going well. I hope your Head Girl duties are not too taxing. Don't over work yourself like last year. Your mother sends her love, worries, and apologizes for me. I picked this up for you so you could not have to remember all the things you somehow store in that amazing memory of yours. I was going to give it to you before you left, but you know me. I can't remember my name some days! Your mother is berating me for it as we speak. Well, I hope that now you have it, you can make good use of it.

Love,

Your Father

Lily smiled, absently tucking a stray strand of her deep red hair behind her ear as she perused the note. Yes, her father was absent-minded. It was one of the most endearing things about him. He never seemed to forget about things directly connected to her, though. She untied the festive red string that was rough between her fingers. The knot turned out to be a sticky one, forcing Lily to whip out her wand with a sigh and magically untangle it.

The paper fell open and the dark leather gleamed in the candle light. Lily softly touched the package and ran her fingers down the soft animal skin. Reverently, she took it out of the packaging. It was beautiful.

Marveling at the glossy softness of the cover she opened the cover. It made the delightful crack as the bindings stretched for the first time. The fibers snapped crisply, bringing a smile to Lily's face. She let the book fall open, the stiff linen sheets separating into groups. The pages were a soft white that that was not the harsh chemically treated snow-blinding color of muggle paper. Lily stroked a page, feeling the texture that was a cobblestone road for her finger tip, yet would not interfere with the strokes of a quill.

Lily's mind thrilled at the thought. The pages were unlined, crisp and blank and just ready for the ink of her quill. Her handwriting was unfailingly neat, so she would have no problem making her writing straight. The idea of her words; the writing small, letters stretching up like trees searching for light because of horizontal cramping yet not unbeautiful due to the long fluid strokes; was one not to be toyed with for long. All acknowledgement of another girl in the room were utterly replaced. Lily raced for her study.

Inside, she selected her favorite bottle from the left drawer where her ink was neatly stacked. Although she despised spending money on frivolous things, Lily had been too taken with this ink to resist. Even the bottle was beautiful. It was crystal, short and squat, with cutting like a diamond almost forming an inverted rain drop. Lily studied it, half smiling. She really did have a passion for writing implements. She always had her quills expertly mended and inks of many colors to organize her notes with. Occasionally she wasn't above letting go and indulging in luxury.

The liquid contained inside the bottle was bright against the dark wood of her desk. It was pink. It had the brilliancy the red couches of the common room must have had in their youth, but it was softened to a softer level. It reminded Lily of the raspberries that grew in her mother's garden closely in color, yet not in shade. Lily was convinced it was the perfect color and had been waiting for the opportune moment to put it to use. Now, it had a place in her…

Lily stopped. She had been so caught up in her obsession with her writing implements and the lovely newness she hadn't formal defined what her present was. Diary? No, that wouldn't do. Lily might have a secret love of pinks (a love most certainly tempered by the use of the color) but she had a detestation of the connotations the word diary brought to mind. In Lily's mind, it was a vulgar word, denoting the owner as possession less brain than needed, or at least applying it wrong.

Her sunny mood was further dampened as she unwilling followed her thought process from diary to a certain group of first years in Gryffindor who had taken it upon themselves to devote their time to adoration of James Potter. Lily could not repress a shudder. It was against her personal make up, but if Lily was the gagging type she would have involuntarily contracted a fit of it.

That brought back all the betrayals of the afternoon. What was she to do about her friends? There would have to be some sort of apology or retreat from their positions on her and James.

In the mean time, she would make use of her present. There was obviously much to write about in her journal. No, that was not right either. Ah, the book would be her _friend_. Lily was quite aware of the antisocial implications of naming an inanimate object a friend, but she considered that quite suitable for the situation. She was temporarily on the outs with her closest friends- at least until she calmed down pointed out the tiny rational corner of her mind- which left her no one to talk to. And with the book, there would be no disagreement on any of the precepts Lily considered unshakable, especially those regarding… _Potter_.

Approaching as close to sadism as ever, Lily sat at her desk with great deliberation and carefully drew out a box from a desk drawer. Inside was a peacock feather quill, one Lily had always considered much too showy. The luster of the features contrasted nicely with her ink, which she uncapped. With a great show of dignity, Lily dipped the quill and opened the precious friend. In her usual precise way, the head girl inscribed the date at the top of the page. Then with a passion to a degree that would obviously never be released in her school work, Lily felt her quill fly. "I hate James Potter," were the first words to be put to paper.


	4. Fun in the Forbidden Forest?

Chapter 4: Fun in the Forbidden Forest?

James was wandering back from the Quidditch pitch when he heard a noise from the forbidden forest. Usually the forest stayed silent as the creature that lurked inside did not show themselves until sunset, and weren't the noisy type. As James well knew, they were the kind of creatures that silently stalked someone, waiting for the moment to pounce.

It sounded as if a couple of amorously inclined first years had stupidly chosen to plan their encounter in the forest. It would be just like some Slytherins or adventurous Gryffindors to do something like that. As Head Boy, James was required to enforce the Hogwarts rules. It would look bad if some first years were eaten by a werewolf anyway.

So James hopped onto his broom and drifted silently through the trees. It surprising that any of the younger students would have worked up the courage to enter the forest, especially this early in the year. James was forced to admit that even he wouldn't have gone into the forest at sunset in his first year, not even to explore with Sirius. Hopefully it would be some Slytherins, because James hated to reward courage with deducting house points, unless it was from Slytherin house.

As he drifted nearer, it became blatantly obvious that the couple James was purposely walking in on was no group of first years. Judging from the noises, this was no puppy love or silly first year crush. As he narrowed in the sounds, James caught sight of a tall male figure and noticeably shorter girl. Although it was near dusk outside the Forbidden Forest, and quickly approaching dark inside, James recognized that dark hair which was quickly escaping from its stern, coiled braids. The boy was even more familiar.

With great care, James dismounted from his broom and leaned against the tree. "If you keep this up, we'll all miss dinner," he remarked casually. The couple jumped into the tree they had been leaning against, the boy hitting his head on a low branch. The girl tried to pull away, but the boy slipped his arms around the middle of her back as the difference in their heights didn't allow him to reach her waist.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing here?" muttered Remus, rubbing his scalp where he had collided with the tree branch, the other arm still firmly planted around Bethany.

Maintaining his nonchalant pose against the other tree, James grinned. "I had to make you two weren't some first years risking being eaten by a werewolf." James realized that he had said the wrong thing, but it didn't seem to register with Remus.

Instead it was Bethany who answered him. Stepping into Remus' arms and resting her head on his chest, she purred "That doesn't seem very likely, as I'm with one."

James' eyebrows shot up. So he had told her. "Well, Moony, I think you've got the right girl," he commented, trying not to seem too happy that his friend had confronted his fears and told her. "Bethany, you'll have to tell me if he told you before or after he kissed you," he teased.

"Oh, shut up, James!" the girl exclaimed. "Remus is a gentleman," she said, putting extra stress on the last word, "It was the first thing he told me, after telling me he had feelings for me!"

"Glad to hear it. I wouldn't want to see your heart broken." James answered as they began heading back to school. Although Remus' normal vision was sharpened to the point where he could easily make his way in the dark, both Bethany and James had their wands out.

"Watch your mouth, Potter." Remus threatened jokingly, "Bethany is taken. By me." He wrapped his arms securely around her. James smiled. It was nice to see them together, instead of sitting at opposite ends of the Gryffindor table sending longing glances at each other.

Suddenly, Bethany stumbled, hitting her palms hard against the moss covered ground.

Her wand rolled away from her, luckily unbroken. "Damn shoes," Bethany muttered as a concerned Remus helped her up, handing back her wand.

Both boys traded confused looks- shoes? But then Remus noticed the tall heels peaking out from under her robes. "Ah, Miss Bethany Harris" he paused, then fixed her with a wolfish look, "Or may I call you Mrs. Lupin? May I have the privilege of escorting you back to the castle?" Both Bethany and James were rolling their eyes. Bethany grudgingly laid her hand on the proffered arm sending a look of "my boyfriend is crazy" back at James.

She gave a squeak of surprise as instead of just letting her hand rest on his arm, Remus used it to pull her to him and sweep her up in arms. Protesting loudly, Bethany struggled in his arms. Although Remus was rather gracefully built tall and thin, he was a lot stronger than he looked. Being a werewolf helped with that. Bethany had no chance, especially since she wasn't trying.

"Remus, put me down this second!" she ordered, trying very hard not to giggle.

"I'm afraid, dear love, I cannot acquiesce that request. It would be ungentlemanly of me to let a woman harm herself attempting to get to the castle when I could offer her my aid." Remus replied gallantly, pretending to be paying attention only to the path between the looming trees.

Bethany came back in her defense. "It is also ungentlemanly and illegal to detain a woman against her will!"

"If the woman were wearing sensible footwear, possibly. Yet in this case, we must rely on my superior male intellect, as the woman cannot comprehend the danger she is in."

That earned Remus a half-hearted hit on the shoulder. "Misogynistic pig," Bethany sulked, settling into Remus' arms.

"Yes, but you love me anyway," said Remus blithely, playing the conceited male to perfection.

At this point James felt the need to enter the conversation. Lover's pretend squabbles were amusing, none the less he felt the need to join the fun. "If my lady is unhappy, I would more than happy to offer her a place on my broomstick," James added breezily.

At this, both boys broke into laughter. Remus had to lean against a tree to stop himself from dropping Bethany. Once their humor had subsided, James conjured up his best impression of a man whose honor had been called into question. "You wouldn't trust your girlfriend to your best friend, Remus?" he almost simpered, blue eyes wide and innocent.

"Not a chance I'm letting you get your arms around her," snorted Remus and they dissolved into laughter again, James lazily rocking back and forth with his broom.

Bethany butted in on the joke. "I'd trust you with my best friend, James," she stated earnestly. That stopped the laughter dead.

"I'm glad of your recommendation of my character, Bethany, but no." James replied. "That is not an option."

Bethany started to passionately inquire what exactly James found undesirable in Lily, however she was prevented from speaking by Remus bending down to kiss her. On her asking for assistance in convincing James Lily was not a bad choice, Remus gave her the same solid "no" that had come from James.

The trio broke out of the trees, and gazed up at the well lighted Hogwarts that poured shimmering candlelight onto the lawn that was now the inky black of the sky between the burning stars. They carefully hurried around the caretaker's hut. No matter if they stayed well out of the light spilling from the rustic windows or that the Head Boy was with them, as nice as Hagrid was, they would still be in trouble.

Halfway across the lawn, Bethany remembered she was still being carried by her boyfriend. "You could let me walk now Remus," she mentioned, making a feeble attempted to extradite herself from his hold.

"Kiss me first." Bethany complied, and got an unexpected response from Remus. "No." he challenged, his voice deepening to a playful refusal. "I fully intend to convey you safely across the threshold. Only then can I be sure my gentlemanly duties are done and I am not leaving you to be preyed upon by my jealous friends or the dark creatures of the night. Werewolves were seen in the forest."

James was having a hard time controlling his laughter. Remus had never been a flirt, in fact of the marauders he was the most serious one of all and had never fully approved of James and Sirius' "skirt chaser" ways, as he chose to call them. Now, the serious withdrawn one was acting absolutely ridiculous. Moony was over the moon in love.

Bethany was not finding it as amusing. She knew that the Hogwarts community would be more than a little stunned to find her carried into the Great Hall, especially in the arms of a marauder. Remus didn't have the infamous track record with women that Potter and Black did, but he was one of the group. Of course, it would help that the chaste James Potter was playing escort. She really didn't want her Hufflepuff friend, Judith, choking on something at her entrance. "Really, I think I'll be fine Remus. We don't want the whole of Hogwarts choking on their dinners when I arrive in your arms, with James as an escort."

Both James and Remus pantomimed disbelief that there was any reasons to doubt that they had the most gentlemanly intentions towards her or that being in their company would reflect anything but good back on those that they accompanied. Then, Remus' expression changed. His dark eyes sparkled, fixing Bethany with a puckish look. Remus' arms tightened, holding her close enough that she could not escape the warmth of his body. Bethany felt herself color. Voice deep and confiding, "What made you think I was talking about that threshold?" he asked.

She never had thought she would be forced to think something so cliché, yet Bethany thanked Merlin that it was dark. She was sure her pale ivory skin had turned to a red as brilliant as Lilly's hair. Oh, Merlin. Lilly! Bethany had enough to deal with, as how to deal with the fact she was blushing, which never happened. She really didn't need her best friend getting irate because she was spending time with her boyfriend's best friend. It really helped to slow Bethany's pulse when she realized that Lily had practically excommunicated her over the events of the afternoon.

Mind and heart exhausted from their race, Bethany was able to reply with some dignity. "I guess I was mistaken about your intentions. I thought you were my own gallant Mr. Darcy." After seven years of being hopelessly in love with Remus, she was well aware that his "intentions" may have not been as pure as phoenix song but they were about as close as it was possibly to get. What she did wonder was if he would pick up on her allusion to muggle literature. All of the Marauders were pureblood, and Jane Austen wasn't an author known for her throngs of male fans.

"My darling Bethany, I hope you haven't misread my earlier comment?" Remus was all suave attention. "I was only suggesting that as we are ten minutes late to dinner that we retrieve our dinners from the kitchen and dine in the common room. It would give me a much better chance to meditate on the very great pleasure a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow."

As by this time she was supporting herself, Bethany took this opportunity to throw her arms around Remus' neck. As they were noticeable different in height, this gives evidence to how much that statement pleased her. It simply wasn't fair that she had found the perfect man, Bethany reflected joyfully as the trio marched up the common room laden with gifts from the elves. She was surprised that Potter was the one to make a comment relating their situation to that of the Fellowship at Lothlorien. When she inquired to if he had actually read it, he gave her a speculative look.

"Moony, I must tell you I am beginning to have second thoughts about your girlfriend. She may be a spy from the Laborious Evil to infiltrate our organization and find out about our upcoming pranks."

Bethany brow crinkled in thought as she pondered that statement. Although Remus was carrying her piggy back in addition to more food than anyone could eat in a week and therefore could not see her face, he seemed to sense her utter confusion. His laughter, something Bethany was getting very used to hearing, bounced off the high stone walls. "What Prat, ah, Potter," her darling, perfect boy explained, correcting his obviously deliberate slip of the tongue, "was saying is that he is offended by your obvious disbelief in his intelligence. He does know how to read, no matter how he tries to convince us otherwise. There is no possible way he could have completed the…"

Eyes widening in his position behind Bethany's back, James interjected, "Now, now we all know I could have bribed someone to read my books for me. Someone antisocial and nerdy by the name of Remus Lupin would have sufficed," calmly, some of his usual playful wit absent. Thankfully Bethany didn't seem to notice. As much as James approved of how close Remus and Bethany were, now was not the time for her to find out that the other Marauders turned into animals too.

"Thank you for your educated comments. As I was saying, Potter can read but it would entirely efface all shreds of credibility of his persona if he let on that he had a brain in his head. I believe he actually has read your favorite book, despite his portrayal of contempt for anything not Quidditch related."

That produced protests from James on the dangers of trusting women with secrets and threats to Bethany should she ever let on to anyone such information. The groups' laughter played about in the high ceilings all the way to the common room.


	5. An Intrusion

Author's Note: Sorry this took such a long time!

A little more Remus for you, cornishxxxpixie.

Soulessaru- yes, it will VERY SLOWLY become very long.

Tomsgirl07- Sorry!!! Thanks for reading anyway! I'm stopping my habit- I was weird and didn't want to spell it (as in Lily) correctly. It's better now, just for you!

Chapter 5

Bethany leaned back against Remus, laughing. The group had discovered that Lily was also skipping dinner when they arrived in the common room. The scratches of a quill emanated from the door that lead to what James referred to as Lily's Lair. Not wanting to be found skipping dinner for purposes other than homework or being exposed to her general wrath, they were forced to move their dinner from the common room to James and Remus' dorm. Bethany had felt slightly nervous about entering the forbidden room, but the company of James and Remus soon wiped that thought from her mind.

"You didn't!" she screeched, half horrified, half elated. Remus and James were filling her in on all the Marauder exploits she had missed, especially the ones that Remus played a vital part in.

"He did," James clarified, "Now, be careful! You don't want to alarm the beast."

"What are you talking about James?" Bethany asked, "Do you have some fearsome pet that you haven't told me about?"

"No, Remus is enough of a handful for us," the Head Boy replied, for which he got a sound smack to the head.

"He's talking about Lily," Remus explained, chortling.

That brought Bethany back to the reality of the position she was in. She still held to the goal of uniting James and Lily, no matter how unrealistic it would be. Now that she had been accepted into the inner circle, there were questions she wanted to ask. The hurdles that had to be bridged with Lily were quite clear as she had ample time in seven years to hear all about why James Potter was evil incarnate. What Bethany didn't know was why James had such a strong dislike of Lily.

"You refer to my best friend as the beast?" she teased, pretending astonishment and anger.

"No, I refer to my archenemy as the beast," was the reply that she received.

"Why?"

"If this has anything to do with that insane plan of yours to bring Miss Evans and myself together, I'm not answering."

Merlin, he wasn't as slow on the uptake as Lily always said. "Why not?"

"You do release you are trying to create a couple out of a pair of people who can agree on only one thing. I hate her with my entire self, she does the same."

Downstairs, Lily was disturbed from her musing on the sins of James Potter against the greater humanity and herself. There were voices. Of course she had noticed when the group had entered the common room. She had mentally commended them for not being loud and annoying. However, it was evident that the male and female voices were emanating from a very inappropriate spot. It was most likely that they were coming from a dormitory, and Lily had one guess on whose dormitory that was. Seriously, if she caught Potter with a girl in his room she was going to the Head Master.

Reassuring her journal that very soon she would return to inform it of more of Potter's assault on the noble position of Head Boy, Lily set of to deal with the rule breakers.

She decided that if she climbed the steps slowly enough James, his cohort, and the girl would not be there and it would just be her imagination. When it came to Potter, Lily would much rather be insane. "I would be perfectly sane, if it wasn't for him," the perturbed girl muttered. It was horrid of him to disrupt her documentation of his bad qualities with the job of gathering more evidence.

The voices became more distinct as Lily reluctantly dragged herself up the steps. She really could use some peace so she could slee…study. It definitely was James and the low growl that escalated to a bark of laughter must be Remus. At least it wasn't Sirius. Thank God, Merlin, and everyone. The girl had a laugh similar to Bethany's. It might be that fifth year who had recently stopped wearing her hair in pigtails, Jessica Prince.

"I'm serious!" James was protesting as Lily neared the black door that led to the den of iniquity. She stifled a snort, and mentally harangued herself for using the description Sirius had recently adopted to annoy her.

"Seriously breaking the rules, Potter," she corrected, her maliciously icy calm tone withering the bloom of laughter and good humor in the room. She stepped around the door as she spoke and was rewarded with the sight of their reactions. The alarm in Potter's eyes was priceless. It was so nice to see him humbled.

However, the identity of the girl made Lily's soul contort as if under the cruicus curse. She could not believe it was Bethany who was so flaunting all the rules. Why couldn't her friends stand up for her? Why did they keep betraying her time after time? It wasn't fair, Lily acknowledged in some far off rational smidgeon of brain, to demand that Bethany not see her boyfriend because he was her friend's worst enemy. That didn't mean it didn't hurt to know the entire world was against the precepts of order and obeying the rules.

"Hello Lily" Remus ventured, "Care to join us in dinner? We were just finishing."

No wonder Bethany was in love with the boy. No matter how many Remus litanies she listened to, Lily had never heard "He's extremely sensitive and compassionate." She really did appreciate the gesture. She couldn't accept, really, but it was nice to know she had a way out of a full out offense. Not that she wouldn't take the chance to win a few points on James. "No, I'm afraid I'm not in for any rule breaking tonight." The same icy snap came back. "I believe I have work to do. If you would kindly desist as to not set a bad example, I would be much obliged." With a piercing gaze directed at the two boys, Lily whirled out of the room.

Behind the harsh clicks of Lily's flats came Bethany's hesitant tip-toe. Lily wasn't mad enough not to realize she was being followed. They continued in silence down the staircase, each of them separately waving to their friends who were returning to the common room after dinner.

Lily breezed right through the little groups of the tiny first years who were standing hesitantly near the fire. She really hoped the marauders would be smart enough not to pull anything else. Bethany interrupted Lily's snit as they passed into her office. "Lily, I'm sorry." Bethany said weakly. "I know that I wasn't supposed to do that and I'm sorry for making you come up and deal with James. This is going to be difficult but your friendship means the world to me."

Even in her irritated state, Lily was not immune to the knowledge that her friend was making a desperate plea to stay of Lily's Hate List, whose members belonged for life even after their rebellion against the rules was crushed. "Bethany I understand that you have to spend time with Remus. Just don't tell me why you weren't at dinner." the Head Girl answered, letting drop the wintry tones of the rule enforcer and taking on the voice of the real Lily.

With a little screech of euphoria, Bethany enfolded Lily in a hug then flopped onto the leather chair, leaving Lily her usual hard-backed desk chair. She was glad to be forgiven and that Lily had brought the dinner subject up. They had a lot to talk about.

As the curfew bell rang, the two girls plus Cassandra who had come in later were still lazily discussing the day's events. Lily had been so satisfied with the state of Bethany's happiness that the subject of James could be lightly discussed, even if Lily was forced to be firm in refusing to ever like James. "I just can't accept him, you two," Lily stated as she stared out of the tower over the lake.

"I know. He's not all evil, though." Bethany responded contentedly.

"I doubt that. Now I have to go deal with him. We have hall patrol together." Lily slowly pushed herself out of the wooden chair, twisting out a crick in her back. "Luckily we don't have to spend the entire night together…"

That statement was cut off with a sputter of laughter from Cassandra. Lily actually blanched. "Sorry, sorry!" exclaimed the Quidditch player, hands up in guard position, one half-jokingly holding a wand.

Sending a half-hearted smack towards Cassandra's head, which the girl easily ducked, Lily headed out of the room. She spotted some younger students leaping through the portrait whole and good naturedly began chiding them when she noticed their attention was being distracted away from her. The large eyes of the first year twins Molly and Janet were riveted on something over her right shoulder. Slightly confused, Lily turned around.

James was standing behind her holding the shoes. Bethany must have taken the things off when she was having dinner in the boy's room. Lily didn't wonder about that, the things looked painful, but why was James giving them to her?

"These were left in my room," James commented with an air of absolute boredom, yet loudly enough that the voices at the fireplace quieted to hissing whispers. Lily was aware that the sizeable number of Gryffindors left in the common room was staring at her _en masse_. The two first years eyes got wider than Lily though possible, taking up practically their entire heads.

"Thank you, James. I'll give these back to her," Lily said, struggling to keep her voice calm and carrying. The shock that he'd do something like that was taken over her anger. As much as she hated him, she never embarrassed him in front of everyone.

As the Head Girl and Boy were staring each other down and the rest of the room staring at them, someone rustled up to Lily and snatched the shoes away from her. They were moving so fast that Lily barely had the time to see that it was Bethany, head ducked and cheeks the flaming red that Lily had never seen out of embarrassment. However, Lily turned around to watch with concern along with the entire room as Bethany made her hurried passage up to her dorm room.

James hurried through the portrait hole and Lily caught sight of an aggravated Remus standing outside his room. Smiling slightly at the thought of someone else being angry at James, she also slipped out into the hallway.

James was moving at quite a good pace with his long legs, forcing Lily to trot to catch up with him. "What do you think you are doing?" she hissed violently, glaring fiercely at his shoulder as it was the only thing she could see. James continued striding ahead, completely unrepentant.

"I should have thought that it would be obvious, Evans. You always maintain you have the superior intellect, so it does follow you would be able to understand the feeble machinations of someone so inferior like myself." He sounded completely unruffled by Lily's anger, which set her off again.

"I know you were trying to destroy my reputation. I didn't know you were trying to undermine Bethany's as well!" Lily shrieked, startling a pair of third years out of a broom closet. They set off for their house at a run after a blaze of anger in a look from both the Head Boy and Head Girl. Both seventh years were so concentrated on their personal dispute that the reminder to deduct points efficiently headed for storage to be retrieved later.

"I wasn't. It was an unforeseen occurrence out of my control." James answered tersely, concentrating on the hiding spots in the shadows. If Lily hadn't been at full boil, she would have been amazed he could string such an impressive sentence together.

"Then why don't you care?" she screeched.

To that James could only remark, "Well, the hall divides here. I'll take the east wing, you take the west wing." Lily fumed at his retreating figure, all 5 feet 10 inches of moral filth simply defying her by its existence, then made an abrupt about-face and set off down her hallway. She was glad it was a long walk; it would take a long patrol to walk out the accumulated anger against James before she could sleep. It would be a long night.


	6. A Meeting

Chapter Six: A Meeting

Three days later Lilly recalled her manners. She was perusing her own torn and worn copy of Pride and Prejudice when she came to the startling realization that her friends were like Jane; Cassandra and Bethany were simply disillusioned about James having good qualities just as Jane naively looked for the good in everyone. That habit was quite annoying but Lily decided that she would just have to buck up and deal with life as it was. Sacrifice is essential to any relationship.

So, when Cassandra returned from Quidditch practice and Bethany returned from a study session with Remus (Lily naturally assumed they were studying) she corralled them into her Head Girl "office" for a chat.

"So, does this mean you've give up your position that you and James would be incompatible? Come on Lily, we know you lust for him with a lust that never dies." Cassandra drawled, draping her long legs across Lily's leather chair.

Lily, exhibiting extreme calm, just rolled her eyes.

"I think she means that she's forgiven us for our meddling." Bethany said quietly.

Lily was filled with a rush of sympathy and righteous anger for Bethany. It wasn't really fair of her to shut her out as Bethany had gotten the brunt of James' horridness but then again, she needed to maintain an appropriate level of respect; for herself and her favorite book.

"Forgiven, not forgotten." Lily answered, sipping her tea. "And by the way, I do not lust for anything, particularly with a 'lust that never dies'. For the last time, I do not and will not feel that way about James Potter. The subject is closed."

"Damn, Lily. You're worse than McG." Cassandra exclaimed.

Lily just looked at her. Cassandra was back to her other bad habits, now that her worst one had been finished with.

"Oh come on Lily. We know you secretly curse the day Potter was born."

Lily's eyebrows went up and a smile appeared on her tight lips, but Cassandra quickly recovered.

"Of course, only because there have been difficulties between you two that prevent you from declaring your love and it causes you much misery." Cassandra continued passionately, waving a dragon's hide boot covered foot back and forth.

Not sure she could take anymore, Lily very pointedly turned to Bethany. She crossed her legs, set her tea cup down on her knee, and asked in a falsely warm voice, "Bethany, how was your day?"

All three girls laughed. Bethany reminded Lily that they had most of their classes together, but assured her it was a wonderful day. "And you Cassandra?" asked Lily, pointedly, but smiling.

"I was talking to James at practice. . ." Cassandra commented innocently, for which the laughing Head Girl threw a saucer at her friend's head. The Quidditch player caught it deftly. A wicked grin spread over her features, and Cassandra exclaimed, "Maybe I should switch to seeker. Bump out James. . ." The three friends laughed together, Lily still slightly annoyed.

"I don't think he'd like that. I don't think I'd like that," a wry male voice commented from the door.

"Remus!" the three friends exclaimed; one with a happy squeak, another with astonishment, and the third with easy camaraderie.

"What is wrong with me as seeker? I'd be less conceited!" Cassandra said vehemently.

That comment earned snorts of disbelief from everyone else present. "It's close competition. . . between who's more stuck up." Remus teased. "Leave James alone. Oh, but not you Lily. He wants to talk to you."

If Lily was anyone else, she would have begun cursing under her breath. The cursing wasn't missed as Cassandra decided to fill it in for her. Lily frowned, and glared. "Why?"

Remus jokingly backed away from the irritated Head Girl. "Whoah, Evans, don't shoot the messenger. Your friend needs me." Lily just looked exasperated. "And we both need your office, so run off and fight with James?"

A little too near smiling to be annoyed, Lily plodded out of her office with a cat-calling friend in tow. Now where was Potter? Cassandra pointed him out in a cluster of third year girls that he was helping with their homework. "What are those girls thinking?" Lily asked herself as she pulled her feet over the carpet to James' cluster.

"Oh, glad to help," James was saying in answer to the third years' profuse thanks. He looked out of the circle of blond heads and caught sight on a red one. "Oh Evans. Excuse me ladies." James sent the third years a smile and they dissolved into giggles.

Lily tensed as a broad hand touched her back. James peered down at her, eyes casting an innocent look Lily felt concealed a burning turmoil of satisfaction at her discomfort. "My place or yours?" James asked.

Lily winced, the glared at him. He was definitely taking advantage of her. "Your office would be preferable," she spat. James only raised his eyebrows, making it clear he was surprised at her tone. Even so, the hand which had yet to leave her back gently guided towards James' office. The door closed and Lily made a break for fresh air, diving for the window seat.

"If you really find me so repulsive, why are we in my office?" James asked, standing by a tea tray. Lily glared at the tea tray. He wasn't supposed to have things she liked in his lair. She wouldn't admit she was jealous of the tea set, but as it was obvious it was from Hogwarts with the crest adorning each piece, why didn't she have one too?

Lily looked up and was disconcerted to find that James was staring at her impatiently while she had been glaring at the tea set. "My office was occupied," Lily replied demurely, looking at the cup of tea he handed her. She didn't know how he had managed to pick chamomile, her favorite.

"Really? Are you hiding someone in there?" James asked, the demonic laughter plain in his eyes.

"No, I believe one your friends is in there." Lily snapped back.

James looked even more amused. "Evans, I didn't know you approved of that kind of thing."

"Of what? And for your information, Remus is very nice about it."

"I doubt you'd define the things he's doing to your friend as very nice." James remarked, leaning back in his chair.

Lily, being the nice innocent girl she was, took a few seconds to figure out what he was trying to insinuate, however she quickly flew off the handle once it clicked. When Potter was concerned, Lily never was very rational. So, she did the unrational thing and threw her cup of tea at his head.

James, who luckily had quick reflexes, managed to freeze the cup in midair to prevent any stains or shattered pottery. "What the hell, Evans!" he snapped, floating the cup down onto the tea tray.

"You….you…prat!" Lily sputtered. "They wouldn't violate rules on my desk."

"Honestly Lily, you can't come up with anything better than that? Cassandra said you were innocent, but really, you are seventeen." James smirked at her. "Oh, and just for reference, I wouldn't be so sure of that. I certainly would."

Lily had had enough. She headed straight for the door, all the while thinking "Cannot hex Potter, am Head Girl", but James caught her wrist. She tried to shrug him off, but toting books was obviously no match for flying after a small winged ball, no matter what one would think.

"I'm sorry Evans" Potter enunciated like he had the time he had turned all her quills into eels in second year, obviously not meaning it. Lily glared at him. "Sit down," he said with less kindness, obviously impatient.

"Why?" Lily asked, not willing to do anything he asked of her.

"Because I have to speak to you, as horrid as it may be for both of us. Sit." James answered.

Lily sat, although to maintain her dignity, she continued to glare at him. At this point, James was used to this and just ignored her. "Dumbledore wanted me to inform you that we have an exchange student arriving."

Lily really wanted to ask why Dumbledore had told him first, but all that came out was "When?"

James looked down at his watch. "In a few minutes."

Lily's eyes grew big, as if they had been jinxed. James gave her a look, which was one part surprise and one part worry, for she looked like her entire life plan had been destroyed. Which, Lily felt, it had. She was always obsessively planning everything, which was why she got such excellent marks (unlike other people who never seemed to put much thought into anything).

While Lily was going through a life crisis, James was yanking her out of the room by the hand. The hand holding got quite a few stares as they marched through the common room, yet it was completely necessary, as James needed to guide Lily around a rather heated game of exploding snap, a chess game whose pieces looked oddly like teachers (James gave them a smile then a glare, Lily didn't notice), and two first year girls who looked at James and giggled.

Once the pair were half way down to the Great Hall, James decided that Lily looked cogent enough to manage on her own and dropped her hand. His decision was accurate, as the Head Girl had also regained her powers of speech.

"Where is she from?"

James started. Lily sounded dreamy. It was quite disturbing not to have her word flying at him, like staccato bullets. It was also disturbing he wasn't doing the same. It seemed wrong to keep up his defenses when she was down. "Beauxbatons, so she's French but lives in Israel. Dumbledore says her English is quite good."

Lily blinked a few times. "Which house is she in?"

James noticed that she was regaining her mental capacities, and decided he could start getting things back to normal and stop being nice to her. He made of a point of watching the portraits whispering in their frames, rather than making sure Lily didn't trip over a suit of armor or a first year in her dazed state. One old monk was orating to an invisible audience on the beauty of young love- James was rather confused how he picked that subject and was surprised to see the monk turn and wink jovially at him. "She's being sorted once she arrives. We're supposed to welcome her into the school and keep track of her anyways."

Lily's head snapped toward him, and they were walking close enough that James was hit in the arm by strands of vibrant red hair. He made a point of conspicuously brushing them off. "What year is she?" James noted that Lily was definitely back to normal, she was angry at him again and he was glad of it.

"Seventh, same as us, why?" he asked casually. Lily was always angered by complacency, and he had turned pushing her buttons into a course of its own.

"Well, does she really need to be looked after? Or are you saying that because she's a woman?"

"My, Evans, I wouldn't want her to get surprised by a staircase or take up with Snape or something equally horrific."

"So do you propose to befriend her? I would categorize that as equally horrific."

"Now, Evans, put on a nice face for our guest," James dripped his words onto the stone floor, making Lily feel like she was dirty, especially when he took her arm. Right before they passed into the entrance hall, James leaned down uncomfortably close to her and whispered "Just so you know, men are supposed to look after women. It's only polite".


	7. A Night out with the Marauders

"Ah, yes, here they are!" exclaimed Dumbledore, his always slightly ironic voice echoing, magnified around the entrance hall. Lily had stopped at an distance that would be highly unhelpful for introductions and was, to put it quite plainly, gawking. Luckily for her, it was not completely noticeable as the only physical change was that her green eyes bugged out while she took in the other girl's unreasonably perfect appearance. What irked Lily most was that there didn't seem to be a spot or wrinkle on her robes, which were a very pale blue, obviously the uniform of Beauxbaxtons.

Lily's unsocial seeming action of stopping escaped notice by their new classmate because James, realizing Lily was falling behind him, put a hand on the small of her back and pushed her forward. Lily had the lovely experience of having both uncomfortable feelings of almost tripping over her own feet and shivering in disgust from James' touching her at the same time. Her loafers squeaked against the floor and Lily felt her face threaten to blush.

Soon enough Lily and James were facing Dumbledore and their new French classmate. Lily chanced a smile to hide the fact that this meeting was quickly becoming very awkward and received a wide smile in return.

"Ah, yes, and now as you may have guessed Aria, this would be Lily Evans and James Potter, our Head Girl and Boy, both of Gryffindor." Dumbledore began introductions. "They will make themselves rather important in your acclimating to our school here. Lily, James, this is Aria Shoshani."

"Pleased to meet you," said James suavely. Lily felt herself begin to wince, but then stopped her reaction. James' style of flirting always turned her stomach; it was almost plain good manners. Lily had never figured out the difference except for one never failed to make her feel sick. Lily's reflections of the ickiness of James were interrupted when during their handshake Aria leaned forward to kiss the air beside each of James' cheeks. Lily was more than amused to see them turn pink; in her experience James did not know how to blush. As Aria moved to greet Lily, Lily thought she caught the Headmaster's eyes twinkling a little more than usual and knew he had also noticed James' upresidented reaction.

"It's nice to meet you, Lily Evans," Aria said pleasantly, and then completely bypassed Lily's hand to give Lily the two air kisses she had given James. Lily was surprised, but she caught on quickly enough to reciprocate the gesture, mentally deciding that she wouldn't categorize Aria as overly flirtatious before she got to know her.

Dumbledore turned to Aria. "And now, Miss Shoshani, I must bid you adieu. If you ever wish to speak to me or need a lemon drop, please do not hesitate to visit my office." Aria's full lips pinched in and Dumbledore continued, "James will be more than happy to help you find it. He is rather familiar with it." Dumbledore bowed down over Aria's hand, nodded to James and Lily and swept out towards the doors. "Now, I'm off to visit Hagrid about some rare creature he seems to have come upon in the Forbidden Forest," he added over his shoulder, "Lily, James, would you please accompany Miss Shoshani to her dormitory, and I will need details on the ball." With that he swept through the doors and out into the gathering dusk.

Lily felt as if she had been transfigured into a goldfish. She wasn't breathing, her mouth was hanging open, and she seemed to have acquired a selective five second memory on the subject of balls. She continued to stare at the door, hoping either Dumbledore would come back and not say the part about planning a ball or that it would reveal an extremely painful way for her to kill James Potter who was making amazingly sheepish sounds behind her back, clearly indicating this was something he had forgotten to tell her.

Instead Lily's sojourn as an aquatic animal was interrupted by none other than her new worst enemy (who had been given the title for the fourth time that week). "Lily," James said rudely, "are you done? We'd like to leave."

Lily swung around, hand raised half way as she considered using her momentum to slap James across his face, which looked just a bit worried. Instead, Lily forced herself to drop her hand to her side, where both her hands curled into fists and answer tightly in the affirmative.

The trio headed to the stairs, with Lily and James staring straight ahead, each pretending that the other didn't exist with Aria between them glancing back and forth, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement. They reached the first staircase just as it began to move away from the landing and Aria began to tilt off balance. Lily looked away as James shot his arm around her to keep her from falling. "A little surprised?" James asked with his usual rakish grin. Lily glared across Aria's shoulders as James' arm slowly receded, deciding she really was going to kill him, or at least scream at him in the common room.

"The staircases at Beauxbaxtons do not move." Aria said emphatically, smiling at him. Lily rolled her eyes. She could tell she was being inched out of this conversation, mostly by James. She was still trying to like Aria. "You have good reflexes," the French girl continued as they began their ascent up the stairs, turning to give Lily a lovely view of her glossy black ringlets. Lily let out a mental wail at losing the new girl to the seduction of James so early in the fight.

"I play quidditch." James answered, his cocky streak hitting Lily in waves.

"James is captain of the team," Lily interjected as if she really didn't want to push James into the sticky step that was coming up and leave him there. Instead, James leaped over the step and offered a hand to Aria, who gracefully took it and sailed over the trick step.

"Oh, do you play quidditch also, Lily?" Ari asked from beside James, two steps above Lily.

Before Lily could answer, James inserted himself back into the conversation. "Evans is not remotely talented at flying."

As her blood surged, Lily noticed Aria's cheeks had pinched in as if she was trying not to laugh. "I wouldn't deign to play under you, Potter, even if I could," Lily snapped.

The two verbal assailants stared at each other until Lily caught sight of Aria's form shaking with giggles to the left of James. She settled back down on her heels; she had been standing on the balls of her feet to better glare at James, who was towering over her in quite an inexcusable fashion. "So, um, do you play quidditch?" Lily asked Aria, feeling her cheeks turn red.

"Yes I do. I play, ah, how do you say it, hunter? No, chaser." Aria answered.

"Too bad you didn't make it for try-outs," exclaimed James, "We could have used some fresh blood. There wasn't much to choose from." Lily rolled her eye, wondering if it was possible to think about quidditch as much as Potter did and still be sane. He obviously couldn't remember about balls. Lily meditated on that as they continued their ascent, while trying to figure out how long it would be before she got to scream at Potter again. "Wait," James continued, "What house are you in?"

"Oh, that's right. You two are in, ah, Gryffindor. That curious hat of yours put me in Ravenclaw. I'm rather confused; it said something about loving books." James and Aria shared a laugh, while Lily considered which hex would be appropriate to use on James on their walk to the Gryffindor common room. "So, with being Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, do you even have time for studying?" she continued lightly.

Lily was quite put out at this point and had learned in seven years never to waste a good opening as James was unfortunately very skilled at avoiding her. "It's sad really," she said saccharinely, "but with Quidditch and endless infuriating pranks there isn't any room left in James' brain for useful information for his classes or things that the headmaster tells him that he's supposed to tell me!" Lily's tone had gone from sticky to icy in a matter of seconds. She turned to James and was accorded a clear view of him as Aria leapt up a step to avoid the fight.

"It wasn't really my fault!" James bellowed back, stepping closer so he could use his height over Lily.

"How so?" Lily shrieked before he could continue, "Don't you have any sense of responsibility? How are we supposed to have a bloody ball if you don't take the time to tell me about it?"

"You know, Evans, its not like EVERY SINGLE TIME I was within five feet of you this week you were screaming at me for breaking some imaginary rule! And if you mean to say I'm incapable of doing anything, why don't you plan the BLOODY BALL yourself?" James shot back.

"I guess I will! Its not like its anything new! Everything that we're supposed to do is done BY ME, unless you've forgotten something else."

"Coming through!" someone else screamed from the top of the staircase, the voice male. Lily looked away from James to see the blurred form of Sirius Black come zooming at them at a most unsafe speed, closely followed by a panting Peter Pettigrew. Sirius skipped a step just as he neared the trio of students and went flying into Aria. With Sirius' momentum the pair toppled against the staircase railing, Aria arching back so far that Lily thought she would fall over. Unluckily for her, Lily noticed the only thing preventing her from a very far fall was the fact that Sirius' body was pushed smack up against hers.

"Oh, terribly sorry," Sirius started to say, then a look of amazement came over his face. "Aria? Qu'est-ce tu fait ici?"

"Sirius? Sirius Black?"

"C'est moi."

"Mais, je pense que tu aller au Durmstrang !"

Sirius laughed bitterly, dropping back into English, "No, luckily my parents are so bloody pleased to be fucking English purebloods. Couldn't send me overseas, might look funny."

"You know each other?" James asked cautiously, staring at the pair. Sirius still had Aria trapped against the stairway railing, and she didn't look like she really minded.

"Oh, of course, James. Little Aria here and I were great childhood buddies, actually from before I met you. Parents used to go off to France to do whatever twisted things they did at that time and they'd dump me with her family." Aria laughed and smacked Sirius lightly upside the head. "Haven't seen her since she was eight, although she's still about the same height." Aria laughed again, looking up at Sirius who was easily a foot taller than her, and Lily felt like crying. To lose the new girl to the masculine charms of James Potter, as questionable as those were, was one thing, but to for the same to happen in relation to Sirius Black was worse.

"Oh, and speaking of when we were eight," Sirius continued charmingly, his Cheshire-cat grin getting wider, "I've still to collect on that bet we made."

Aria opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius prevented her from getting any words out by leaning down and kissing her open mouth.

Lily gasped and looked away, remembered her duties as Head Girl, and let out a scream. "Sirius Black!"

Two voices sent the dark-haired boy's name echoing off the walls, and Lily was horrified to realize she had had the same thought as James Potter. The pair of head students looked at each other in surprise and horror, then quickly back at the couple who had separated to stand side by side against the railing with Sirius' arm draped over Aria's delicate blue robed shoulders. "Evans, Evans, Evans," Sirius clucked, black eyebrows raised into his shaggy hair, "You simply can't reprimand me for 'inappropriate public displays of affection' as that was simply the payment of a bet that I was a long time in receiving."

There was a cough from farther up the stairs, and all four turned to look at Peter, who had been forgotten in the melee.

"Don't even think about it Peter," the grinning boy continued, "And for you James, yes, Aria is taken, so you should go find someone else."

Aria smacked Sirius in the arm, causing Sirius to look around for his assailant in mock confusion. "As I remember, I did pay up on our bet," she commented.

"I have a very clear memory of the incident, and you did not. I had just thoroughly proved to you that no one could fly 10 loops in a row faster than Sirius Black, and just as I was going to claim my prize that horrid brother of you dragged you inside and then came out and jinxed me."

"I don't think so," Aria returned, "I had just kissed you when Sebastian dragged you off me."

"That may be true, but I hadn't kissed you yet," cried Sirius.

"Fine, you win." Aria conceded, crossing her arms in an attempt to look intimidating.

"Of course I do," Sirius replied staring blankly over her head, "Now what was this about James being an irresponsible bastard, Lily? It sounded quite amusing."

Lily just glared at him, while Peter snorted in the background. "What did you do now, James?" the smallest boy asked.

"Actually, Aria, we should get you to your common room, curfew is coming up."

Sirius looked slightly worried. "And so is Filch. I can hear that wheeze a mile away. We better move."

The group of students scuttled up the stairs, Lily trailing behind. They entered a hall way that Lily wasn't familiar with, but then turned onto the hall that ran past the library.

"Don't tell me you're not in Gryffindor!" Sirius gasped.

"I'm afraid I've been put in Ravenclaw," Aria answered lightly.

"Bloody lot of book readers, rather disgusting Quidditch team, you'll go insane," Sirius predicted. "You haven't turned studious on me or something?"

"Oh no, come now. The only thing books are good for are hitting you with." Aria answered. Lily frowned, earning herself a push from James.

"Aria, you better not abuse books too much around Evans, she may end up hitting you with one," James answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the French girl cried, "Do you like to read?"

Lily was surprised at her sincerity, and rather amazedly answered "Yes."

The three boys laughed, and Lily winced. She watched, dumbfounded as Aria smacked both James and Sirius on the head.

"Ow woman, that hurt!" Sirius yelped.

Peter, who had remained unscathed, added "But not as much as when Lily smacked you with her transfiguration book."

"Shut up, Peter! Oh, Aria, this is Peter Pettigrew, Peter this is Aria who has defected to Ravenclaw on us."

"I heard," Peter answered, "Nice to meet you,"

"The same. Lily, did you really?"

"Of course," Lily answered firmly.

"Oh good, maybe it deflated his head a little," Aria answered, and Lily felt her lips crack into a smile. Things didn't look so bad.

"Ah, here we are," announced Sirius, stopping in front of a painting of a rather snooty looking Wizard surrounded by books. "Try not to die of boredom with this bookish lot. Do come and visit us, password's flibbergibblet, I'll show you where the painting is later."

"Black!" Lily shrieked.

"Oh relax, Evans," James said tiredly, "Dumbledore wanted us to give her the password anyway."

"What? Do you ever tell me anything Potter?" Lily snapped. The boys rolled their eyes, while Aria looked on with a mix of pity and shrewd calculation.

Seeing that Lily was about to start on James again, Aria reached out and took both her hands, pulling her way from the offensive sight of James Potter. "Lily, you better give it a rest for now, I think it's almost curfew," Aria said gently. Lily glanced at her watch and discovered that they had been expected in their dorms for ten minutes.

"Rule breakers!" cried Peter in an attempt to distract Lily further, finger pointed at a couple that was emerging out of a classroom farther down the hall.

"Hey!" James cried after the retreating couple, obviously against his will and only to preserve himself from another Evans tongue lashing.

The couple stopped, and in the dim light nothing was visible but that it consisted of a rather tall boy and a much shorter girl. "Hello James," the boy said coolly.

"Remus!" exclaimed the boys, while Lily greeted her friend Bethany. The couple joined the rather large group assembled in front of the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. "Now, who is this?" Remus enquired.

Sirius's head whipped back and forth as he peered up and down the dark hallway. "I'd love to introduce you, Moony, but I think Filch is coming."

"Who is this Filch?" Aria asked as Sirius scooped up her hand and kissed it.

"Nasty bloke. Not introducing him for the life of me." Sirius tossed over his shoulder as he began pelting down the hall. The rest of the group joined him, James grabbing Lily's hand to avoid leaving her behind.

"Okay," Sirius announced calmly as they rounded the corner at top speed, both girls already gasping for breath, "We're taking the passage at the statue of Benivere the Befuddled."

"That's not a passage!" Peter gasped, slowing down. Lily almost tripped over her feet in surprise at the existence of secret passageways, quickly figuring out that this was how the quartet managed to avoid endless detentions. She was yanked back on her feet by James, who dragged her through the hole.

Once everyone was inside, the group paused to catch their breath. "When did you find this?" James breathed. "We checked here a million times."

"It was sadly simple," Sirius explained, "There's a concealment charm on it." He waved his wand half-heartedly at the entrance. "Bloody annoying, really, you have to put it back up each time, otherwise its rather obvious."

"We shouldn't be using this." Lily said.

Everyone groaned. "Evans, please just thank me and then shut up or you'll be going to this ball with Potter here." Sirius said, starting down the passage way, wand lit.

"I'd rather go with Snape," Lily muttered.

There were some surprised coughing noises from all four boys and Sirius turned around again. "Evans, I know you're crazy, but at least James washes his hair. Don't mention Snivelus again or I swear I'll hex you. Oh, and James, please stop touching her."

Lily realized that James was still holding her hand and dropped it, wiping her palm off on her skirt. James did the same with his pants leg. "At least Sn-" Lily began, only to have James clamp his hand over her mouth. Lily ended up with her head in a vice grip between James' arm and hand. Wiggling and not escaping, she resorted to kicking James in the shin.

"Bloody hell Evans!" James gasped.

Remus theatrically gave a long drawn-out sigh. "Okay, children, separate," he commanded, taking James' arm, while Bethany pulled Lily backwards to walk beside her. The group reached the end of the tunnel and the group clamored out into the hall that was directly above the entrance to the Gryffindor tower.

"Sirius, bad idea," Peter whispered. Lily notice he was peering at some scrap of parchment, which Sirius also moved over to look at.

"Oh well, lets just move then." Sirius answered brightly, again setting off a sprint. He lead them around a dizzying montage of turns, up a staircase, and then down two flights of stairs in quick secession before they finally arrived infront of the Fat Lady.

"What have you all been up to, out so late?" she queried.

"Oh, just let us in, Flibbergibblet," Remus gasped, and they all quickly piled through the portrait hole, James lifting up Lily so he could get in faster.

Once in the safety of the common room, the group flung themselves onto the furniture. Lily looked at her watch and gasped; they had missed curfew by a full half an hour. She watched tiredly from her position on the floor as James and Sirius, who had picked the same couch, squabbled over who had the rights to it. The argument ended when Sirius tackled James onto the couch and pretended to go to sleep with his head on the other boy's chest. James immediately shoved him off the couch, causing Sirius to fall onto of Remus and Bethany, who were curled up on the rug directly below them.

"Owwwwww!" moaned Bethany, extricating herself from the jumble of bodies on the floor.

"No threesomes," muttered Remus, and Sirius promptly caught him in a headlock.

"I don't know about you, but my feet hurt and I'm tired and I've been assaulted by Sirius here," Bethany announced stabbing Sirius in the knee with a pointy toe, "I'm going to bed."

"Ow, woman! Those things are instruments of death," Sirius complained, staring at Bethany's stilettos.

"That's Miss Harris to you," Remus growled as he pulled the standing Bethany down for a good night kiss.

"Ewwwww," cried Sirius, mimicking a three-year old, or as Lily thought, himself. Remus promptly punched him in the shoulder.

"Okay, have a nice fight, we're leaving now," said Bethany, pulling Lily with her.

Upstairs the pair found their roommates up waiting for them, both sitting on Lily's bed. "Move," Lily gasped, collapsing face first into her pillow.

"Ooooo, where have you been?" teased Cassandra. Lily peeked up at her and noticed she was wearing her most annoying pair of pajamas which had charmed flying quaffles on them and turned back to her pillow. Cassandra grabbed Lily's sides and squeezed, and Lily flew up into a sitting position with a shriek.

"You're evil!" she exclaimed.

"So, where were you?" asked Eleanor from her own bed as she compulsively brushed the long brown hair that she wore in a braid down her back every day.

"We don't need to know where you were, Bethany, that's obvious, but Lily what in the world could you be up to this late at night?" Cassandra added.

Lily thought back to what exactly she had been doing and unguardedly muttered, "I cannot believe I was breaking rules with that quartet of nincompoops," more to herself than to the other girls.

"Oh, you were with James!" Cassandra yelled, bouncing up and down on Lily's bed. Lily smacked her with a pillow. "Oh you so were!" Cassandra reprimanded, straightening her short hair.

"Lily, you're starting to act like them!" Bethany commented from the edge of their bathroom, mouth full of toothpaste.

"What's going on?" asked Eleanor as Lily made threatening gestures with her pillow towards Bethany.

"Lily and James had to meet the new student from France, Aria wasn't it?" Bethany explained, waving her toothbrush as if she was conducting and orchestra, "Then they must have run into Sirius and Peter somewhere. They met me and Remus when they were dropping Aria off at the Ravenclaw common room, and then we all had to run from Filch."

"So," said Cassandra brightly, "You skipped curfew with the Marauders, how entirely romantic!"

Lily smacked her with her pillow and pushed her off the bed, as the other girls laughed.

Once Cassandra had retreated to her own bed on the far wall and Lily's thoughts were free of violence, she thought to ask "Who are the Marauders?"

"James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter," Eleanor answered.

All three girls stared at her. "How'd you know that?" Bethany and Cassandra asked at the same time.

Eleanor shrugged and blushed.

"Oh no, you don't," Cassandra began, but quickly refocused on Lily, "You know, if you paid any attention to them, you might be able to catch them breaking the rules instead of making us listen to your endless rants about it."

Lily sighed and went off to brush her teeth. There was that to consider.


End file.
